IDCA Presentations

Dilling, L., Daly, M., Klein, R., Wilhelmi O., and Travis, W. The dynamics of vulnerability: Why adapting to climate variability may not always prepare us for climate change. Climate Adaptation Futures: Second International Climate Change Adaptation Conference 2012. Tucson, AZ, May 29-31, 2012.
Policy makers are increasingly aware of the need to develop strategies to cope with the impacts of climate change, yet there are still many challenges to enacting practical adaptation policies. Given the uncertainty related to future climate conditions, a common presumption is that actions taken to minimize the impacts of current climate variability will reduce vulnerability in the face of long-term climate change. A growing body of theoretical and empirical insight indicates that vulnerability to climate change is highly dynamic and scale-dependent, creating the potential for conflicts, mismatches, or maladaptations across scales and sectors. To examine these potential tradeoffs, we pose the question "do measures taken to mitigate the effects of short-term climate variability necessarily decrease vulnerability to climate change?" To focus our inquiry, we consider this question in respect to the urban water sector in the U.S. We begin by presenting the findings of a literature review, in which we revisit the concept of vulnerability, with the specific aim of linking theoretical formulations of the term, as presented in climate adaptation and hazards literatures, with its applied interpretations as expressed within urban water management literature and practice. Through this review, we find that there are 7 lines of evidence within the literature to suggest that it may be necessary to question the broad assumption that management of current climate variability will automatically reduce vulnerability to long-term climate change in the context of urban water management. These findings will be used to inform the next phase of the research study, in which we will conduct empirical investigation in 3 urban water systems in the U.S. to evaluate how response to short-term drought events may impact long-term adaptive capacity.

Daly, M., Klein, R., and L. Dilling (Presenter). Invited Presentation: Urban water management and Adaptation to Climate Change: Preliminary research on how responses to drought condition adaptive capacity. University Council on Water Resources. Boulder, CO July 14, 2011.